Catching Up, International Edition

By rights, today's Graphical History Tour ought to take us into cartoons from October of 1926. But we still have a couple of international stories to take care of from that September.

We start with the federal election in Canada.

"Definitions" by Douglas H.N. Russell in Vancouver Daily Province, Sept. 11, 1926

We've been following the 1926 campaign, but Douglas Russell kindly reintroduces us to the major parties contesting for power in the above cartoon. 

Arthur Meighen's Conservatives were nominally the incumbent party, but never had a coalition partner to achieve a working majority in Parliament in the three days they were in power. The coalition of William Mackenzie King's Liberals and Robert Forke's Progressives had lost their majority in November, 1925. Labour and other minor parties had more in common with the Liberals or Progressives than with the Conservatives.

"The Liberal Champion Still in the Lead" by Sam Hunter in Toronto Daily Star, Sept. 10, 1926

Most of the partisan cartoons leading up to the vote predicted victory for their favored candidate and defeat for the other side. As election day neared, even the partisan cartoonists had to acknowledge that the vote could tip either way.

"Waiting for the Verdict" by George Shields in Evening Telegram, Toronto, Sept. 14, 1926

Sam Hunter was a committed Liberal, and George Shields was an unyielding Tory. Accordingly, whereas Shields depicts Meighen waiting confidently with John Bull at his shoulder (you surely recall that Canada was a part of the United Kingdom at this time), King sweats nervously, backed by his alleged patron, a scowling Uncle Sam.

"Class Selfishness Versus Canadian Progress" by Arthur G. Racey in Montreal Daily Star, Sept. 11, 1926

Arthur Racey was another dyed-in-the-wool Tory, but I find hardly any cartoons of his boosting Meighen. Instead, Racey put out an occasional cartoon critical of Progressive leader Robert Forke. This one attempts to say too much, yet artlessly and without wit, as if it were one of those godawful imitation editorial cartoons extruded by ai.

Where were we? Oh, yes…

The Progressives, with their constituency in the sparsely populated, agrarian plains provinces, ran a consistently distant third to the Liberals and Conservatives, but were indispensable to any Liberal government.

Forke had resigned as leader of the Progressives at the end of June, running instead as a Liberal-Progressive. A number of Albertan Progressives in Parliament also quit the party, switching to the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) Party.

"The Come-Back" by George Shields in Evening Telegram, Toronto, Sept. 17, 1926

Election Day was September 14. When votes in all the ridings were tallied, Meighen's Conservatives lost 24 seats. Concentrating their efforts on ridings where they stood the best chance of winning, King's Liberals gained 16 seats, despite earning fewer votes overall than the Tories.

Meanwhile, although the leaderless Progressives lost 11 seats, Forke and his Liberal-Progressives picked up eight and the UFA gained nine. Their gains were enough for the Liberals to forge a governmental majority, and King returned as Prime Minister, to the disappointment consternation of the Telegram and its cartoonist.

"Foolish Gosling" by Fred O. Seibel in Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sept. 13, 1926

Moving right along: Coming in too late to be in our August visit there, Fred Seibel came up with one more paternalistic metaphor to explain why the Philippines should remain a colony of the United States. 

A proposal by rubber industry magnates to grant independence to the largely Catholic north of the archipelago while retaining the more Moslem southern islands as an American fiefdom ultimately went nowhere.

"A Noble Ambition" by Fred Seibel in Richmond Times Dispatch, Sept. 12, 1926

Fred Seibel drew this complimentary cartoon about Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, a fellow Virginian who was elected to the British Parliament upon the death of her husband, Waldorf Astor. 

Lady Astor was an outspoken suffragist and advocate for education reform, temperance, and recruiting women into civil service. On the other hand, she was an anti-Catholic Nazi sympathizer, so her career  did not survive World War II. For the time being, however, she was quite popular in her riding and back in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

"Everything Bows to His Dominating Will" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Sept. 21, 1926

Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini survived a second assassination attempt in September. 

Anarchist Gino Lucetti had been hiding out in Marseille after shooting Fascist Alessandro Perfetti during an argument the year before, and getting shot himself . Having crossed the border back into Italy under an assumed name, Lucetti threw a bomb at Mussolini's car in front of the Porta Pia in Rome on the very day Lucetti's trial for the Perfetti shooting was to start.

Mussolini was unscathed, although eight bystanders sustained minor injuries, and Lucetti was quickly captured. Mussolini's response to the incident included a veiled warning to France: "We must put an end to the gentle tolerance of parties capable of such matters. It would be well for responsible governments to take note of this, because otherwise their friendship with the Italian people may be fatally compromised, and we are ready to apply suitable methods for this purpose."

"Hands Across the Mediterranean" by William C. Morris for George Matthew Adams Service, ca. Sept. 13, 1926

Mussolini forged alliances with his fellow fascist dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera. De Rivera had overthrown Spain's elected republic in 1923, receiving the support of King Alfonso XIII after the fact.

Morris's cartoon portrays not only the friendship of the two dictators, but also the relationship between them and their respective royals, the diminutive figures peering out between de Rivera's and Mussolini's legs.

But let's close the book on that September with some cheery news: 

"Germany's Admission to the League" by Arthur Racey in Montreal Evening Star, Sept. 16, 1926

Germany and France have promised never to go to war again! Hoorah!

The Recycling Bin of History

Every once in a while, I come across editorial cartoons for these Graphical History Tours that I like, but which don't make the cut for one reason or another.

Which is just to say that there ain't much by way of an overall theme to today's post. And here we go!

"The Grist of War" by Winsor McCay in New York Herald, ca. June 18, 1926

I was all set to include this Winsor McCay cartoon in a recent post about Abd El-Krim's surrender to  colonial French and Spain troops in Morocco, but something just seemed off about it.

Given the timing of its publication, it seems that the cartoon ought to be about the Rif War, but it's curious why the "Militarist" character is drawn with ridiculously exaggerated white lips, in the manner that White cartoonists and minstrel shows of the day portrayed Black people.

German cartoonists in the aftermath of World War I frequently drew African soldiers carrying out French military actions as a way of highlighting African soldiers' presence in France's occupation of the Ruhr region; the cartooning practice was meant to inflame German resentment at being policed by untermenschen.

Was McCay echoing that same racist propaganda here? If so, the cartoon was more likely about French policy against Germany, not France's adventures in Morocco.

"Well, Anyway, a Good Time Was Had By All" by James North in Washington Post, June 4, 1926

Meanwhile, a much-ballyhooed disarmament conference was underway. The French poppinjay in the foreground of James North's cartoon is more representative of how U.S. cartoonists represented France: stiffly waxed goatee and upturned mustache.

"But Isn't It Kind of Dangerous" by Jay N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, June 1, 1926

Here’s a “Ding” Darling cartoon I liked about New York Governor Al Smith’s position on Prohibition. It didn’t quite fit in with my post on spring primary results — Smith was not in a reelection race — and I already had two other Darling cartoons having to do with Iowa’s GOP Senate primary.

I do like to keep an eye out for cartoons featuring the men who were destined to run for president and vice president later on. I shouldn’t need to warn of a spoiler alert when I explain that Smith would be the Democratic presidential nominee in 1928, and it’s not as if the "Happy Warrior" were an obscure pol in 1926. Nor is he largely forgotten today.

Unlike his 1928 running mate.

By the way, I came across this campaign button at a resale store recently. I wonder whether whoever wrote the price sticker was unaware that Franklin Roosevelt was not at the top of the ticket, but was the vice presidential nominee in that 1920 campaign.

"Kompromissflaggen" by Oskar Garvens in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, June 6, 1926

This cartoon suggesting designs various German political parties and interests might have had for the Weimar Republic's flag didn't fit in with recent posts on European affairs. This is an unretouched image from the Heidelberg's on-line archive; besides adding English translations, I would have tried to eliminate the yellowing of the page and to emphasize the black lines.

Perhaps Herr Garvens would have appreciated my coloring in some red on his flags, too, assuming I would be coloring the correct rectangles. My guess is that the red isn't missing because it has faded over time, but rather that it was never there — because Kladderadatsch could only afford black and yellow ink for the cartoons on its inside pages that week.

Finally, it would have been timely, in this week when the Supreme Court floods the zone with a blizzard of rulings like a college student cranking out all his term papers at once, to have put together a post about historic Supreme Court decisions. Sadly, editorial cartoons about the Court are somewhat rare in the 1920's.

"Memories of Dred Scott" by Wilbert Holloway in Pittsburgh Courier, June 5, 1926

Cartoons about the Court do show up in newspapers appealing to a Black audience, however. This Wilbert Holloway cartoon concerns the Supreme Court's decision that it had no jurisdiction to rule in Curtis & Corrigan v. Buckley et al., a case contesting the legality of private contracts restricting the sale of homes to Black persons.

The case made by the bill is this: the parties are citizens of the United States, residing in the District [of Columbia]. The plaintiff and the defendant Corrigan are white persons, and the defendant Curtis is a person of the negro race. In 1921, thirty white persons, including the plaintiff and the defendant Corrigan, owning twenty-five parcels of land, improved by dwelling houses, situated on S Street, between 18th and New Hampshire Avenue, in the City of Washington, executed an indenture, duly recorded, in which they recited that, for their mutual benefit and the best interests of the neighborhood comprising these properties, they mutually covenanted and agreed that no part of these properties should ever be used or occupied by, or sold, leased or given to, any person of the negro race or blood, and that this covenant should run with the land and bind their respective heirs and assigns for twenty-one years from and after its date.

Justice Edward T. Sanford delivered the Court's decision that the 5th, 13th, and 14th Amendments to the Constitution did not apply to private contracts. Sanford, a Harding appointee from Tennessee, was a friend and protegé of Chief Justice William Howard Taft. Like Taft a conservative jurist, his earlier majority opinion in Gitlow v. New York ironically established precedent for the liberal Warren Court's decisions expanding civil rights. 

Our Foreign Desk

"The World 'Do' Move" by Dean O'Dell in Dayton Daily News, May 18, 1926

This week's Graphical History Tour takes a quick look overseas to catch up with events in the rest of the world in May of 1926.

Well, Europe and North Africa, at least.

"Rolling Up His Sleeves" by Fred Ellis in Daily Worker, Chicago, May 5, 1926

That May started off with a general strike in Great Britain, to the alarm of commie-fearing cartoonists, but to the delight of their cohorts at the Daily Worker. 

An editorial in London Daily Mail called the general strike revolutionary and subversive, sparking a walk-out by its pressmen.

"A May Day Moving That Will Move" by Arthur G. Racey in Montreal Daily Star, May 1, 1926

The U.S. had a hand in exacerbating issues for British miners. It its effort to stabilize the German economy, the Dawes Plan for Europe subsidized Germany's coal industry; that in turn enabled Germany to provide free coal to France and Italy under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. As a result of this and overvaluation of the Pound Sterling, British coal exports plummeted and miners' pay was slashed by 35%.

"I Always Bring Trouble" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 6, 1926

Meanwhile, working conditions in British coal mines were still basically pre-industrial. Whereas German and Polish mining firms had invested in mechanization, the British companies relied exclusively on manual labor.

"Why the Strikes" by T.E. Powers in New York Evening Journal, ca. May 8, 1926

Miners laid down their tools on May 1; the Trade Union Congress (TUC) called on all other workers to join them beginning at midnight May 3. 1.5 million workers from all over Great Britain joined the strike on the first day.

"Streik in England" by Wilhelm Schulz in Simplicissimus, Munich/Stuttgart, May 24, 1926

In response, the government sent police to escort busloads of strikebreakers to the mines and other affected industries, and posted troops at bus stations to ward off violent resistance. London's bus system was immediately overwhelmed. After a week or so, some striking workers began breaking the picket lines. Historian Jessica Brain takes it from there:

"The turning point came when the general strike was identified as not being protected by the Trade Dispute Act of 1906, except for the coal industry, meaning that the unions became liable for the intention to breach contracts. By 12th May, the TUC General Council met at Downing Street, to announce that the strike was being called off with the agreement that no striker would be victimised for their decision, despite the government stating it had no control over employers’ decisions.

"The momentum had been lost, unions faced potential legal action and workers were returning to their place of employment. Some miners continued to resist for as long as November, but to no avail.

"Many miners faced unemployment for years whilst others had to accept the bad conditions of lower wages and longer working hours. Despite incredible levels of support, the strike had amounted to nothing.

"The Sincerest of Flattery" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. May 22, 1926

"In 1927 the Trade Disputes Act was introduced by [Prime Minister] Stanley Baldwin, an act which banned any sympathy strikes as well as mass picketing; this act is still in force today. This was the final nail in the coffin for those workers who had taken part in one of the biggest events in industrial history in Britain."

"Gehnsucht" by Arthur Krüger in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, June 6, 1926

On May 11, Poland's former Chief of State, First Marshal Józef Klemens Piłsudski, launched a successful coup d'état against the newly elected Polish government of President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Wincenty Witos, the third administration in the previous six months.

"Polen" by Ernst Thöny in Simplicissimus, Munich/Stuttgart, May 31, 1926

Units of the Army loyal to Piłsudski quickly seized control of the major bridges in Warsaw. The Polish Socialist Party called for a general strike in support of the coup. The Railwaymen's Union brought transportation and communications to a standstill, and the government surrendered on May 14 to prevent further bloodshed.

"Clean-up Week Idea Reaches Poland" by Wm. Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer,May 27, 1926

At first blush, Hanny's cartoon appears to side with the coup, but he was actually referring to the name given to the new government by its principal leader. Piłsudski announced the creation of what he called a moral "Sanation" (Sanacja) dictatorship. In English newspaper reports:

"Marshal Pilsudski has stated that the policy of the Government immediately is for the restoration of the authority of the State and the introduction of administrative reforms, including the suppression of corruption in public life. He promises to hold a general election after the dissolution of Parliament. In the meantime he claims that only Presidential endorsement shall be required in order to enforce the law. He declares that his sole desire is to save Poland from the reaction of military operations which are not directed against the State or the people. I am, he said, fighting the Government, which since it assumed office has inaugurated a policy of defiance to the interests of the State and the army."

"Pan Pilsudki Imitating Senor Mussolini" possibly by Viktor "Deni" Denisov in Pravda, Moscow, ca. May 22, 1926

The Daily Worker gave no credit for this cartoon, so I am guessing its creator based on the style of the drawing (and overlooking the Roman rather than Cyrillic alphabet on Piłsudski's banner, which might have been used for a variety of reasons).

"Pilsudsky's In the Saddle But Where's the Horse" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, May 29, 1926

"Ding" Darling offered a different view of the Polish coup, but the anonymous cartoonist above hit closer to the mark. While Piłsudski never assumed a role as the titular head of state, he remained the real power behind the Polish government until his death in 1935.

Moving on:

"Frühlingslied in Morokko" by Werner Hahmann in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, May 30. 1926

Moroccan rebel leader Abd el-Krim surrendered to Spanish and French forces on May 27, 1926, bringing an end to the five-year-long Rif War (which we have been following here, here, here, and here) and the Al-Jumhūriyyah al-Rif. 

by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 27, 1926

Despite some early successes against the Spanish army, el-Krim’s 9,000 to 13,000 guerillas were no match for the Europeans once France entered the war in support of Spain in September, 1925. Spanish forces re-occupied el-Krim’s home base of Ajdir that October; by March, 1926, the Franco-Spanish armies had gained control of most of Morocco.

"The Triumph" by Ed Gale in Los Angeles Times, May 28, 1926

El-Krim sued for peace in April; but talks collapsed, and the Europeans resumed hostilities. El-Krim was left with no option but to surrender to the French, who promised his safety and that of his family in exchange for the safe return of Spanish and French prisoners of war. El-Krim lived out the rest of his days in exile on Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

"Abd-el-Krim" by Ernst Thöny in Simplicissimus, Munich/Stuttgart, June 21, 1926

As far as some Americans were concerned, the principal outcome of the Europeans' victory was that France could now focus her attention on her dismal economic situation. And, by the way, repaying those wartime debts to the U.S.

"A Stitch in Time—Maybe" by Cecil Jensen in Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News, May 28, 1926

Darling Catches Up

Graphical History Tour Inc. couldn't let April get away without celebrating the centennial of J.N. "Ding" Darling's return to the drawing board after a year battling peritonitis.

Jay N. Darling, "Ding," returns to the Register's front page this morning with the first cartoon he has drawn after more than a year's absence. Mr. Darling has completely recovered his health, following the serious illness with peritonitis with which he was stricken March 19, 1925. Ed LeCocq, the young cartoonist who substituted for Mr. Darling, will draw cartoons for the Evening Tribune.

"If You Don't Think the World Moves..." by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, April 5, 1926

In Ding's first cartoon upon return, he appears undaunted by the challenge of catching up with the whirlwind of world events since his pen fell silent.

"Things Seem Just About Where We Left Them a Year Ago" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 6, 1926

But one day later, he realized that it was still the 1920's after all. Prohibition was still the law of the land, if not universally observed; the Democratic Party was still out of power and searching for some winning issue; Congress was still promising aid to farmers but not delivering; isolationists were still thwarting Uncle Sam trying to fetch peace off the shelf; and, apparently, President Coolidge was hard at work sawing logs.

Darling approved of Calvin Coolidge, which is why he is the only figure not beset by cobwebs in the cartoon.

"Looks As Though He'd Adopted Something" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 13, 1926

Darling returned to his drawing board just in time for the culmination of Iowa Democrat Daniel Steck's challenge to overturn Republican Senator Smith Brookhart's 1924 election victory.

Brookhart was elected to the Senate in 1922 to fill out the term of William S. Kenyon, and immediately challenged Senate norms, preferring cowhide shoes and overalls to suits and ties. A progressive "radical," he publicly backed Robert La Follette's 1924 presidential campaign over Coolidge's reelection while running for a full Senate term of his own. Republican party leaders withdrew their support over this unforgiveable defection from party loyalty.

Election night returns appeared to indicate that Steck would be the first Democrat elected to the Senate by Iowans since the Civil War; but late results from rural counties gave Brookhart a 754-vote margin of victory. Brookhart was sworn into office on March 4, 1925. 

Steck, backed by the Iowa Republican Party, filed an official challenge with the Senate Committee on Elections and Privileges. On April 12, 1926, 16 Senate Republicans figured they would rather have another Democrat in the minority than Brookhart within their caucus, and joined their 29 Democratic colleagues voting to recognize Steck as the winner of the 1924 election.

Brookhart promptly announced that he would challenge Iowa's Senior Senator, Albert Cummins, in 1928. He did so, successfully.

"First Blood" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Evening Tribune, Apr. 13, 1926

Since "young cartoonist" Ed LeCocq has graced our pixels repeatedly over the past year, I thought it only fair to let him comment on Brookhart's ouster here. I wonder if he had been prepared to draw a glum Miss Democracy in case the Senate vote had gone the other way. His GOP Elephant could have remained disappointed in either event.

LeCocq's editors at the Evening Tribune seemed to view Steck's victory as a portent of Democratic victories yet to come. It wasn't; even the Great Depression couldn't get Steck reelected in 1930.

"To Retrieve the Family Fortunes" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 7, 1926

Getting back to those Things Where We Left Them a Year Ago, the Democratic Governor of New York, Al Smith, was a champion of the "Wets," pushing for loosening, if not repeal, of Prohibition. In the spring of 1926, the Wets proposed decriminalizing beer and "light wines" (5.5-10% Alcohol By Volume), while leaving hard liquor fully illegal.

"Important If True" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 20, 1926

One argument in favor of loosening Prohibition laws was that organized crime was trafficking profitably — and violently — in contraband hooch. It was well known that powerful crime bosses had help from corrupt elected officials, law enforcers, and judges, not to mention otherwise upstanding citizens.

"The Voice of Authority" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 25, 1926

This Darling cartoon points out a powerful force within the "Dry" constituency: the Women's Vote.

Prohibition became law because of a coalition of Progressive social reformers, religious conservatives, Southern Democrats, and wives tired of their husbands coming home drunk all the time.

Moving on to foreign affairs...

"The Audience Will Kindly Refrain from Applause Until the Act Is Over" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 9, 1926

"All There Was" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 10, 1926

The Coolidge administration reached agreements with World War I allies France and Italy for their repayment of war debts to the U.S. Both countries were left heavily damaged after the war, yet many editorial cartoonists and their publishers demanded prompt repayment in full and would settle for nothing less. Darling took a more nuanced view of things.

I really like how, in his cartoon about settling the debt from France, he draws your eye from the oversized trapeze artiste, to the gentleman reaching to catch her, to the Master of Ceremonies on the ground, and finally to the expectant crowd.

"No Wonder the Neighbors Are Beginning to Talk" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 23, 1926

Darling stood apart from many of his fellow Republicans in consistently advocating for international cooperation, the Wilson-inspired League of Nations, and the International Court. Resistance to these efforts was especially effective in the U.S. Congress under Republican domination, even when the Coolidge administration was open to them.

By the way, it was another month before Darling resumed drawing cartoons for Collier's. He tweaked one of the above cartoons for this last one.

"Putting It Up to Papa" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Collier's, May 29, 1926

Awakening the Spirit of Locarno

Our Graphical History Tour, as is so often its wont (where there’s a will, there’s a wont), journeys back a century ago to check up on international developments, this time in the late fall.

"Prins Locarno en Sneeuwwitje" by Louis Raemaekers in De Telegraff, Amsterdam, Nov. 21, 1925

The major European powers reached a peacekeeping agreement at Locarno, Switzerland. A series of treaties were initialed in mid-October, 1925 for official signature on December 1.

"Got Him Going" by Arthur G. Racey in Montreal Star, Nov. 28, 1925

Not everyone was involved in the Locarno conference, however. Racey depicts Russia and the U.S. peering over the fence while Mr. Globehead punches War in the nose. Racey has helpfully written Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy on Mr. Globehead's pate.

It must be pointed out that the conference was strictly among countries of western Europe. No eastern European countries were invited; nor were any nations of Asia, Africa, or the Americas.

"The Real Treaty of Peace" by Wm. A. Rogers in Washington Post, Oct./Nov., 1925

The view from the U.S. was nevertheless hopeful. W.A. Rogers tended to be skeptical of international agreements, so one could perhaps interpret this cartoon to suggest the possibility that the Locarno agreement might fall short of a "real treaty of peace"; he seats Poland at the table even though Poland was not represented at the conference.

You may recall where World War II was started.

"Inside the Breakwater" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov. 29, 1925

Nelson Harding's cartoon acknowledged that the agreement would not bring an end to war, but believed that it would keep war from European shores.

"Hier Stehe Ich" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Nov. 8, 1925

Arthur Johnson meant the above cartoon, drawn sometime around Reformation Day, depicting German Chancellor Hans Luther quoting Martin Luther, as a rebuke of the warlike inclinations of Germany's rivals. The armored knights on the right side of the cartoon include British negotiator Austen Chamberlain and French representative Aristide Briande, while the monk behind Hans/Martin Luther bears resemblance to German delegate Gustav Stresemann.

"Mussolini Furioso" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, Nov. 22, 1925

I do not recognize a representative of Italy in Johnson's November 8 cartoon. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini gets the starring role in his cover cartoon of November 22 after Il Duce gave a speech in Rome glorifying war at what was supposed to be a celebration of the Locarno accords.

I may not have translated the last word of the caption, “Gottstrammbach,” accurately. Literally “God tight stream,” the best I’ve been able to determine is that it’s some sort of colloquialism in Saxony.

"De Aanslag op Mussolini" by Leendert Jordaan in de Notenkraker, Nov. 14, 1925

Speaking of Signore Mussolini: Tito Zaniboni, a former Socialist deputy, was arrested on November 4 for plotting to assassinate Mussolini during a planned public speech. Mussolini seized upon the plot — he may even have engineered it himself — as an excuse to consolidate power and imprison political rivals.

"The True Status of Benito" by "O. Zim" Zimmerman in Daily Worker, Chicago, Nov. 27, 1925

The communists at the Daily Worker labored under the misapprehension that Mussolini was somehow held by the chains of banker J.P. Morgan. This surely would have come as a surprise to Mussolini himself.

"She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do" by Edward G. McCandish in Washington Post, Oct. 31, 1925

Getting back to the prospects for world peace: Edward McCandish outlined the international disputes outside the Locarno accords' purview. Spain continued their suppression of the Riffian revolt in Morocco. French forces, while also helping put down the Riffian revolt, were forcibly quelling the Hama uprising against French rule in Syria. And Bulgarian soldiers crossed into Greece in "The War of the Stray Dog," a brief skirmish in October allegedly sparked when a Greek soldier chasing a dog across the countries' border was shot and killed.

"This Ought to Be Easy to Settle" by John Knott in Dallas News, Oct./Nov., 1925

The errant sentry and a captain were killed before the Bulgarians withdrew. Greece demanded an apology and reparations, and mobilized its military to occupy the Bulgarian border town of Petrich to enforce its demands.

"Premature" by Rollin Kirby in New York Evening World, Oct./Nov., 1925

The League of Nations stepped in and quickly resolved the conflict between Bulgaria and Greece, which Rollin Kirby* held up as proof to the doubting "Irreconcilables" in Congress that the League could act, and act decisively.

Bulgaria issued an apology for its soldiers' actions and agreed to pay compensation to the first two Greek soldiers' families. The League of Nations made Greece pay Bulgaria to compensate for the occupation of and civilian death toll in Petrich.

"Something Else Again" by Wm. Sykes in Philadelphia Public Ledger, Oct./Nov. 1925

As for Franco-Syrian hostilities, France would quash the Hama uprising by late November, capturing its leaders and bombarding Damascus from air and ground, resulting in large-scale destruction and a death toll in the thousands. Occasional guerilla attacks by the Syrians continued for the next two years, but without achieving independence.

――――――――

* Tour Guide's Note: My source credited the "Premature" cartoon to Bill Sykes, I believe incorrectly. I find no signature on the cartoon, either because it is missing or cropped out, but the style, and the copyright line included in the original source indicate to me that Rollin Kirby was the probable cartoonist.